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1984
1984 or "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is a 1949 novel by George Orwell. It is a dystopian novel, meaning that it takes place in an unsettling, dark society in the near future. In the novel, a man named Winston Smith lives in Airstrip One (once called Great Britain) in the state of Oceania, where citizens are constantly monitored by the Party government led by Big Brother, and how Smith plans to rebel against his corrupt government and. society. 1984 has also invented several famous Orwellian words such as Newspeak, Big Brother and thoughtpolice. 1984 is Orwell's well-known work and is a popular school-read, as well as being ranked among the greatest novels of all time. Plot summary Winston Smith is a middle-aged man living as a low-ranking member of the Party in London, Airstrip One (formerly called Great Britain). The futuristic year is 1984 and the world Smith lives in is divided up in 3 separate states: Oceania (where his home country, Airstrip One is), Eurasia and Eastasia, that have been caught up in an ongoing war. Oceania is ruled by The Party, a socialist government whose leader is the mysterious Big Brother. They make up all the rules and guidelines of Oceania and control everything in the nation, most notably constantly monitoring their citizens through TV surveillance-like cameras called telescreens. Everywhere Winston goes, the telescreens are always watching him; even in his own home. In addition, no one is allowed to fall in love, have sex or have free thoughts. The nation is also patrolled by intimidating officers called Thoughtpolice, who seek out and punish anyone who commits the crime thoughtcrime, ''meaning when someone thinks of negative thoughts about the Party. The novel begins with Smith being frustrated at the Party's strict and rigid control. He despises the Party so much that one day, he illegally purchases a diary from a secondhand shop and writes all of his thoughts into it. He also becomes interested in a man named O'Brien, who is a member of the Party. Winston thinks that he is secretly part of the Brotherhood, an organization who plans to overthrow the Party, led by an individual named Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical records to fit the Party's needs. At work, he spots a pretty, dark-haired woman who he suspects could be a spy for the Thoughtpolice. One day, he receives a note from the woman that says, "I love you". The woman's name is Julia and both she and Winston have a love affair. They keep their romance a secret from the Party and rent out a room together upstairs in the secondhand store where Winston bought the diary. Winston continues to hate the party the more he loves Julia and before long, O'Brien summons the couple to his home. He claims that he is a member of the Brotherhood and he wants to stop the Party as well. He would have the couple join the Brotherhood with him, and even gives them a copy of a book written by Emmanuel Goldstein about the basics of his founded clan and how they would join. However, O'Brien is actually a loyal member of the Party, and he ends up tricking Winston and Julia into believing him. The couple were arrested and imprisoned in separate rooms at Oceania's interior ministry called the Ministry of Love. Winston is tortured and brainwashed by O'Brien for months until he is taken to Room 101 where any opposer to the Party would encounter their worst fear. Winston is afraid of rats, and both he and Julia betray each other when placed into the room and soon released. Winston has since lost his spirit and is now a faithful member of the Party. He is no longer in love with Julia, who has also changed from her imprisonment. Winston looks up at Big Brother's portrait and finally begins to love and adore him. Characters 'Winston Smith'- The main protagonist. He is a frail, thin middle-aged man who was once a member of the Party. He works for the Ministry of Truth where he rewrites history in the Party's version, but secretly dreams of revolution and begins to hate the Party. He begins to rebel by journal-keeping and having a romantic relationship with one of the Party members, but ends up being mentally tortured and made into a true believer. 'Julia'- Winston's lover. A beautiful, dark-haired woman, she is a Party member and mechanist of the Ministry of Truth. She, too, also has hatred for the Party and decides to take part in the revolution when she meets and falls in love with Winston. She also has very active and strong sexual desires which are illegal against the Party. Despite her strong relationship with Winston, however, she ends up being mentally tortured and forced to betray her lover. [[O'Brien|'O'Brien']]- A member of the Inner who Winston suspected of being part of the anti-Party rebel group the Brotherhood. He looked up to him and strongly believed in his actions and thoughts. But O'Brien ended up having Winston and Julia betray each other by psychological torture and becoming faithful followers. '''Big Brother'- Despite never making a physical appearance in the novel, (and may not even exist) Big Brother serves as the leader of Oceania and an important key factor. His face is always seen on posters and tele screens, with his famous motto "Big Brother is Watching You" planted all over the nation. Mr. Charrington''- A elderly man who owns an antique shop in the Prole district, where Winston first purchased his diary and rents out the upstairs room for him. He seems to be kind and optimistic about Winston's fascination with the past and supports his relationship with Julia. But he was secretly a member of the Thought Police and has the couple arrested and imprisoned. Writing history/Reception 1984 was heavily influenced by WWII, particularly the Soviet Union and some major characters and moments in it were loosely based in reality. Big Brother is based on Joseph Stalin, the ruler of the Soviet Union and the Two-Minute hate was inspired by most of the propaganda films that were played worldwide at the time. He mainly had wrote the novel as a warning about the possible near future being a dystopian society. Orwell first wrote the first manuscript around 1946 at Jura in the Scottish Isles while he was suffering from tuberculosis. He had temporarily resided in a cottage there with his sister Avril, a housekeeper and his young adopted son Richard. While he stayed there, he spent most of his time doing work on it from 1947-48. 1984 was published on June 8th, 1949 by Secker and Warburg in London after Orwell had sent the manuscript there a year earlier while recovering from his frail health in Scotland, with the US edition published 5 days later. It became an instant success, and became a fine example of dystopian totalitarianism. It also invented the term Orwellian, which describes the characteristics associated with Orwell's writings. Here is what certain critics at the time of the novel's release said about it: "In Britain 1984 A.D., no one would have suspected that Winston and Julia were capable of crimethink (dangerous thoughts) or a secret desire for ownlife (individualism). After all, Party-Member Winston Smith was one of the Ministry of Truth's most trusted forgers; he had always flung himself heart & soul into the falsification of government statistics. And Party-Member Julia was outwardly so goodthinkful (naturally orthodox) that, after a brilliant girlhood in the Spies, she became active in the Junior Anti-Sex League and was snapped up by Pornosec, a subsection of the government Fiction Department that ground out happy-making pornography for the masses. In short, the grim, grey London Times could not have been referring to Winston and Julia when it snorted contemptuously: "Old thinkers unbellyfeel Ingsoc," i.e., "Those whose ideas were formed before the Revolution cannot have a full emotional understanding of the principles of English Socialism." -TIME'S Magazine, 1949 "In the excesses of satire one may take a certain comfort. They provide a distance from the human condition as we meet it in our daily life that preserves our habitual refuge in sloth or blindness or self-righteousness. Mr. Orwell's earlier book, ''Animal Farm, is such a work. Its characters are animals, and its content is therefore fabulous, and its horror, shading into comedy, remains in the generalized realm of intellect, from which our feelings need fear no onslaught. But "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is a work of pure horror, and its horror is crushingly immediate." -NY Times, 1949 "The story is brilliantly constructed and told. Winston Smith, of the Party (but not the Inner Party) kicks against the pricks, with what results we shall leave readers to find out for themselves. It has become a dreadful occasion of anguish to-day conjecturing how much torture even a saint can put up with if the end is certainly not to be a spectacular martyrdom - but “vaporisation.” The less you are familiar with the idea of the agent provocateur as an instrument of oppression and rule the more you will shudder at the wiles used by the Ministry of Love in Mr. Orwell’s London of 1984, “chief city of Airstrip One, Oceana.” An example of the way things are managed: Emmanuel Goldstein, the proscribed Opposition leader, is a fiction artfully sustained by the authorities to lure deviationists into giving themselves away." -The Guardian, 1949 1984 would be Orwell's final novel before his death a year later in 1950. It is officially hailed as one of the most influential novels in literature and a fine but terrifying example of a dystopian future. Themes Totalitarianism Orwell's main goal was to publish 1984 as a warning of the dangers of totalitarianism in the near future. It was significantly targeted towards Western nations that aren't aware of the terrors of WWII communism in Europe, such as the regimes in Spain and Russia. Orwell excellently created and described the dystopian world of Airstrip One, Oceania in his novel. One example include the government constantly monitoring the prospects of everyday life and creating harsh rules to follow. As the novel progressed, Winston Smith attempted to rebel against the Party's regime and its leader Big Brother, but Orwell has made it clear that rebellion would never succeed and would end up torturing and manipulating any opposers into faithful followers. Propaganda One of the main factors about 1984's totalitarianism is its propaganda. The Ministry of Truth is the one who spreads out all of the Party's information and announcements. They also send out intimidating propagandist messages to the public, such as "Big Brother is Watching You" because the Party's leader Big Brother is always monitoring them no matter where they are or what they do. The Party's propaganda is also responsible for using them to turn against Emmanuel Goldstein and manipulating the public that Goldstein is their enemy. Examples of using the propaganda include the tele screens advertising it and the Two-Minute Hate, in which everyone is instructed to send out their expressions of hate towards the enemies of the state, such as Goldstein. Loyalty Loyalty is one of the main aspects the Party uses to assure that everyone in Oceania would be loyal and obedient to their government and to their leader. Even those would refuse loyalty would be easily manipulated into being true followers. With their citizens' support, the Party could aim to build a thriving empire in Oceania, and when someone aims loyalty, they must be faithful to their promise. Winston made this loyal promise when he attempted to join the Brotherhood and to maintain his romance with Julia, even if it meant placing him in danger or death. At the end of the novel, after finally betraying Julia after being tortured by O'Brien and being taught about the Party's intelligence, he ends up gaining true obedience and fulfilling the Party's main goal. Symbols The telescreens The tele screens symbolize the constant surveillance of their citizens and represent the powerful regime of the Party's control, even symbolizing the government's abuse of technology. Big Brother As the leader of Oceania, Big Brother, like the telescreens, symbolizes the totalitarian government and the surveillance of Oceania. He also symbolizes the fact that he is meant to be worshipped not just as a leader, but as a God to Oceania. The Glass Paperweight An antique object that Winston purchases at Mr. Charrington's secondhand shop, the Glass Paperweight symbolizes the past and beauty for its own sake, offering a serene sanctuary for Winston and Julia, and allowing him to reconnect his memories to the past. The Red-Armed Prole Woman The red-armed Prole woman, who Winston spotted singing outside of his rented room, symbolizes a hopeful future for him and the lower social class. Foreshadowing * Winston and Julia see a rat in their rented room. Foreshadows Winston betraying her after nearly being eaten alive by rats in Room 101. * Winston writes "Down to Big Brother" in his diary and his neighbour Mrs. Parsons' children telling him he's a traitor and thought criminal. Foreshadows his treachery to the party and subsequent vaporization. * Winston suspects that Syme would be vaporized because he is too smart. Foreshadows Syme's sudden disappearance but likely vaporized later on. External links * 1984 on SparkNotes * 1984 on LitCharts * 1984 on CliffNotes * 1984 on CourseHero * 1984 on GradeSaver * 1984 on ThoughtCo * The Guardian article * This Day in History * TIME Original Review Category:British Literature Category:Dystopian novels Category:20th-century novels Category:Novels Category:Psychological novels